I’ll start, Bale
Mahrez
Alejandro Balde. Started as just an average LB, then like most La Masia talents (not all) he had incredible performances for his age and then began benching Jordi Alba, even being part of the lovingly named BACK defensive line for the 2022-23 Barcelona season. These days it’s BAKC but Balde is still good. Yes his final ball needs improvement but his defending is solid (unlike one other LB we also have…)
Andy Robertson. When liverpool signed him from hull I didn’t even know who he was and most people were saying he wasn’t at the level to play for liverpool.
When was Bale average exactly lol. He was a 16 yo sensation who rose afa you’d see back then.
Arshavin, Drogba, Vardy are some of the players that fit that description. And to a lesser extent likes of Salah, or KDB who were considered somewhat promising but seemed to have flopped before breaking ground and becoming PL giants.
Again, wtf Bale was always a promising talent and peaked so young! It’s the opposite of this!
Messi
Jokes before anyone gets their panties in a twist
Vardy.
He was relatively old, and on the edge of being a Championship striker and a below average PL player.
But than the miracle season happened, scored in 11 consecutive matches. That performance was to some extent due to Mahrez and Kante being insane
But after that season Vardy was pretty consistent, and Leichester was a comfortable mid table team, even after Kante and Mahrez left, and Vardy was a huge factor in that
Casemiro was never supposed to be a starter for Real Madrid. He played very few minutes in 13/14, went on loan in 14/15. At the start of 14/15 James got injured and it seems like everyone realised Real Madrid needed a DM, behind of Kroos-Modric. Soon enough, he was one of the best DMs in the world.
feel like after the James Rodriguez world cup era that James went to shit
Casemiro was heavily touted when he was at São Paulo. He had a falling with the club towards the end of this time there which meant that his hype died down and he began to be regarded as arrogant and cocky.
At Madrid, he did not play much in 13/14 because we had the likes of Alonso, Illaramendi and Khedira ahead of him. Even then he was absolutely critical to us qualifying to the semis against Dortmund. He was sent on loan to Porto to let him gain experience because he lower down the pecking order. His performances at Porto earned him his spot back (after a buy out by Porto and buy back from Madrid). Well, 15/16 season and Zidane having the guts to bench Isco and James led to the history we witnessed.
Kane.
Was bang average when he was out on loan then came back and started scoring goals for fun
Barella had a steady growth, but when he got to Inter, his power peaked to the stars, becoming a key player for both Inter and Italian national team
Played in major competitions finals and has an insane 31 game without losing record with Italy team (previous was 22)
I had to cite him because he is from where I live and he played for Cagliari (my hometown) and we love him, he might be the greatest Sardinian player ever after Gigi Riva, I am pretty sure he is already better than Gianfranco Zola